At this time in Konoha…
Inside the Akimichi barbecue restaurant.
Tsunade's team and Sakumo's team had gathered here for a meal.
Tsunade and Hatake Sakumo were drinking together while chatting.
"Sakumo-senpai, your team chased down an elite chūnin so quickly—and even captured him alive. Sakumo-senpai, you truly haven't lost your edge."
Hatake Sakumo's face reddened slightly.
Thinking back on the process of this mission, he couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed.
"Our mission target this time was a Konoha rogue ninja—Daren. He has the combat strength of an elite chūnin. He used to work in Konoha's Ninjutsu Research Department and has extensive theoretical knowledge. However, his stamina is a problem. Once a fight lasts longer than five minutes, he's guaranteed to lose. His famous taijutsu technique is the 'Taka Hand,' which launches frequent and extremely rapid attacks. Be very careful."
"Let me add something. Since this mission was your first real combat mission, I wouldn't step in unless it became a life-or-death situation. However, the speed of the Taka Hand is extremely fast. If something goes wrong, I might not reach you in time. So you'd better treat this as a life-and-death battle—otherwise you may not even get the chance to regret it later."
After explaining some of the intelligence, Hatake Sakumo handed the information scroll to Nara Shikaku.
He then prepared to watch how they would complete the pursuit mission.
Originally, he had planned to take out his little booklet to read.
But after thinking about these troublesome students, he decided he'd better pay attention.
Slacking off… he'd save that for the next D-rank mission.
Shikaku opened the intelligence scroll and skillfully read through the information, including several possible locations and a few countries the target was most likely to flee to.
Why "skillfully"?
Because the hundreds of D-rank missions before this had all been done the same way.
There were even times they finished missions early and went to take another one immediately—like that certain chubby cat.
It made things incredibly easy for Hatake Sakumo.
If he had known teaching students was this simple, only an idiot would've joined the ANBU.
Working year-round without rest, low pay, basically just a beast of burden.
Hmm… hopefully this rogue ninja didn't run too far.
Otherwise, just traveling would take a lot of time.
...
An hour later.
Fifty kilometers outside Konoha.
A remote wooden hut.
A hunched old man with thinning hair suddenly suffered an incomprehensible combo attack.
"Human Bullet Tank!"
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
"Mind Body Disturbance Technique!"
"Partial Expansion Technique: Super Push!"
"Shadow Imitation Technique!"
"Genjutsu: Temporary Paralysis Technique!"
"Wire Strings!"
"Explosive Tags!"
"Sealing Technique!"
In an instant, the old man reverted to the appearance of the rogue ninja Daren.
But by now, he had already fainted completely.
Seeing the mission completed, Hatake Sakumo walked out.
Looking at Daren's miserable state, he felt a chill run down his spine.
If I had been hit by the first move back then… I'd probably have ended up just like this.
Kids these days really have dark hearts.
"How did you know the mission target was here? According to the mission scroll, he should've already been near the border. Did the scroll have something I didn't notice?"
The intelligence of the Nara clan was truly terrifying.
"Not really. He just had bad luck."
"Bad luck?"
Shikaku took out a recording bug.
Bang.
It exploded open.
A blue light screen appeared.
It showed the rogue ninja Daren using the Transformation Jutsu to disguise himself as an old man.
Are missions done like this by young ninja nowadays?
This is way more efficient than the ANBU.
It even saves time on investigation and identification.
Why do your pursuit missions look completely different from the ones I used to do?
When I was in the ANBU, we didn't do things like this.
The most important thing in a pursuit mission… is chasing.
"So you already knew the rogue ninja was hiding here."
Hatake Sakumo said.
"Not really. Shiken happened to have insects placed here, and they just happened to run into him."
Shikaku replied calmly.
"Just happened"? You just happened to record someone transforming?
Do you think I'd believe that?
"And then? After Shiken saw him, you just ignored it?"
"Originally we planned to come deal with him later—use him as food for Shiken's insects. But then the mission came up. Everyone was busy, so we planned to handle him when we got back. Turns out our team's mission was exactly this one. Sakumo-sensei, you see? Isn't that perfect timing?"
Perfect timing…
Meaning the village could have solved this without issuing a mission or paying a reward.
Now a large sum of money had been spent for nothing.
But since I get a share of the money… that's fine.
Hatake Sakumo gave a thumbs up.
"Nicely done."
He generously praised his students.
After cleaning up the scene, Sakumo's team returned to the village to report the mission.
Meanwhile, the deeply unconscious Daren thought:
"Wasn't I supposed to be the protagonist of this chapter? Through careful calculations and clever planning, I successfully misled Konoha's intelligence, making them believe I was near the Fire Country border while I actually hid close to Konoha itself. Such a brilliant 'hiding in the darkness beneath the lamp' strategy—doesn't it deserve more screen time? I'm innocent! I want some scenes too!"
...
After the mission ended, Sakumo brought his students to the Akimichi barbecue restaurant.
Since Chōza was from the Akimichi clan, they could get a slight discount.
Otherwise, how could that little mission reward possibly cover how much Chōza eats?
Shiken, Kamito, Hiyasu…
Why do we always gather at the Akimichi place? Can't afford other restaurants?
Now Kushina has joined too.
Before, one person treated once.
Now two people have to split the bill together.
That's how terrifying Kushina is.
Minato, if you manage to win her over, you'll be the one who truly possesses the Will of Fire.
Minato: ...
Then they ran into Tsunade's team, who were already eating.
"By the way, your speed was even faster. From Konoha to the Fire Country capital is such a long distance, and you still had to escort a caravan. Our team only finished our mission thanks to a bit of luck, yet you were still faster than us. Did you find some kind of shortcut?"
Hatake Sakumo was very curious.
Escorting merchant caravans was one of the most troublesome missions for ninja.
Time-consuming, exhausting, large targets, lots of trouble, little profit.
And if something went wrong, you might even lose money.
Originally, he thought it would already be impressive if Tsunade's team returned after three days.
The escort itself should take at least a day.
But the Fire Country capital had gambling houses—and the team's jōnin leader was Tsunade.
So… you know.
Yet they came back today.
That was truly surprising.
Hearing this, Tsunade let out a long sigh.
Back then…
Inuzuka Ryoha stepped in front of the caravan.
"Do any of your goods include living creatures?"
Although it was strange for someone to ask that, the caravan leader quickly stepped forward.
"Ninja-sama, no. The goods are all items—masks, clothes, knives, metal goods."
"Are these all members of your caravan? How many people in total?"
"Yes, all of them. Twenty-five people."
"Good."
"Sealing scroll."
Inuzuka Ryoha sealed all the goods into a scroll.
"Come out and receive customers."
A group of ninja dogs with slightly dull fur appeared and carried all twenty-five people onto their backs.
Several more ninja dogs spread out around them on guard.
"Destination: the capital. Move out."
"Woof woof!"
Led by Inuzuka Ryoha, the group departed.
One hour later—round trip included—and after counting the goods once, everything was finished in one go.
Tsunade hadn't even left the village before the mission was already completed.
Holding the completed mission scroll, Tsunade still looked confused.
On the scroll was the evaluation:
"Next time, please make sure the Inuzuka clan accepts our caravan escort mission—or we will directly request the Inuzuka clan."
What the hell is all this…
Tsunade waved her hand and tossed the mission scroll away after handing it in.
Then she brought her team to eat barbecue.
And that's when she saw…
Sakumo's team, who had arrived just a little later than hers.
...
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